Substrate delivering robot

ABSTRACT

A robot for carrying a substrate in which minimum turning radius is small when the arm is retracted although a plurality of forks are provided and installation area can be minimized. The robot comprises a fixed base, a first turnable arm linked with the fixed base, a second turnable arm linked with the first arm, and a turnable fork linked with the second arm, wherein the fork comprises a plurality of first and second independent forks. The first and second forks are fixed coaxially and vertically in two stages to the forward end part of the second arm such that they can turn independently and first and second fork drive motors are disposed in the second arm.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a substrate delivering robot to be usedin a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

BACKGROUND ART

As shown in FIG. 7( a), a conventional general substrate deliveringrobot 1A for delivering a thin plate-shaped substrate such as asemiconductor wafer or a liquid crystal glass substrate is constitutedby a fixed base 2A, a first arm 3A coupled turnably to the fixed base2A, a second arm 4A coupled turnably to the first arm 3A, and a fork 5Afor substrate mounting which is turnably coupled to the second arm 4A.In the case in which such a substrate delivering robot can be caused tomount two substrates at the same time, the fork 5A having a central partturnably supported, one of ends provided with a processed substratemounting section 5Aa for mounting a processed substrate and the otherend provided with an unprocessed substrate mounting section 5Ab formounting an unprocessed substrate is coupled turnably to the tip portionof the second arm 4A (for example, JP-A-7-142551).

In such a conventional substrate delivering robot capable of holding twosubstrates at the same time, however, one long fork is used. For thisreason, there is a problem in that the minimum turning radius of thesubstrate delivering robot is large also in the contraction state of anarm, resulting in an increase in the installation area of the robot.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The invention has been made to solve such a problem and has an object toprovide a substrate delivering robot capable of decreasing the minimumturning radius in the contraction state of the robot and minimizing aninstallation area even if a plurality of forks are provided.

In order to solve the problem, the invention provides a substratedelivering robot having a fixed base, a first arm coupled turnably to asubstantial center part of the fixed base, a second arm coupled turnablyto the first arm and a fork coupled turnably to the second arm, whereinthe fork is constituted by a plurality of forks including a first forkand a second fork which are independent of each other, and the firstfork and the second fork are turnably attached to a tip portion of thesecond arm concentrically in two upper and lower stages independently ofeach other and a motor for driving the first fork and a motor fordriving the second fork are provided in the robot, for example, thesecond arm.

As described above, according to the invention, it is possible to obtainsuch a great advantage as to provide a substrate delivering robotcapable of decreasing a minimum turning radius in the contraction stateof the arm and minimizing an installation area even if a plurality offorks are provided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1( a) and 1(b) show the side views showing a substrate deliveringrobot according to an embodiment of the invention, FIG. 1( a) showing astate in which an arm is contracted and FIG. 1( b) showing a state inwhich the arm is extended.

FIGS. 2( a) and 2(b) is a plan view showing the substrate deliveringrobot in FIG. 1, FIG. 2( a) showing a state in which the arm iscontracted and FIG. 2( b) showing a state in which the arm is extended.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing the structure of an arm section.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along an A—A line in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a view showing two motors in FIG. 3 seen in a direction of B.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing the operation of the substrate deliveringrobot according to the invention, FIG. 6( a) showing a state in which aprocessed substrate is taken out and FIG. 6( b) showing a state in whichan unprocessed substrate is mounted.

FIGS. 7( a) and 7(b) show the plan views showing a conventionalsubstrate delivering robot, FIG. 7( a) showing an example of a substratedelivering robot having one fork and FIG. 7(b) showing an example of asubstrate delivering robot having two forks.

BEST MODE OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the invention will be described below with reference tothe drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a state in which an arm is extended in a substratedelivering robot according to the embodiment of the invention, FIG. 1(a) being a plan view and FIG. 1( b) being a side view. FIG. 2 shows astate in which the arm is contracted in the substrate delivering robotaccording to the embodiment of the invention, FIG. 2( a) being a planview and FIG. 2( b) being a side view. FIG. 3 is a side sectional viewshowing the structure of an arm section, FIG. 4 is a sectional viewtaken along an A—A line in FIG. 3, FIG. 5 is a view showing two motorsin FIG. 3 seen in a direction of B, and FIGS. 6( a) and 6(b) show theplan views showing the operation of the substrate delivering robotaccording to the invention, FIG. 6( a) showing a state in which aprocessed substrate is taken out and FIG. 6( b) showing a state in whichan unprocessed substrate is mounted.

As shown in FIGS. 1( a) and 1(b) and FIGS. 2( a) and 2(b), a substratedelivering robot 1 according to the invention comprises a fixed base 2,a first arm 3 coupled turnably to the fixed base 2, a second arm 4coupled turnably to the first arm 3, and a first fork 5 and a secondfork 6 which are coupled turnably to the second arm 4. The first arm 3can be moved vertically by an up-down mechanism provided in the fixedbase 2 which is not shown.

The first arm 3, the second arm 4, the first fork 5 and the second fork6 are constituted as shown in FIGS. 3 to 6.

Motors for driving the first arm 3 and the second arm 4 are provided inthe fixed base 2 respectively (not shown), and an output shaft thereofis constituted by two concentric shafts. An outer one of the twoconcentric shafts is an output shaft 7 for driving the first arm and isdirectly coupled to the lower part of the first arm 3. Moreover, aninner shaft is an output shaft 8 for driving the second arm and isprotruded into the first arm 3, has a tip portion to which a pulley 9 isattached, is connected through a belt 11 to a pulley 10 coupled to thelower part of the second arm 4, and is thus coupled to the second arm 4.

The first fork 5 and the second fork 6 which are independent of eachother are turnably attached to the tip portion of the second arm 4concentrically in two upper and lower stages. Shafts for supporting thefirst fork 5 and the second fork 6 are constituted by two concentricshafts. The first fork 5 on the upper side is coupled to an inner shaft12 and the second fork 6 on the lower side is coupled to an outer shaft13. Pulleys 14 and 15 are attached to the inner shaft 12 and the outershaft 13 with height positions varied in lower parts, respectively.

Moreover, motors 16 and 17 for driving the first fork 5 and the secondfork 6 are arranged in the first arm 3 which is located in the vicinityof the turning center portion of the second arm 4 and the heightpositions of pulleys 18 and 19 are made different from each other asshown in FIG. 6. Although the pulley 14 and the pulley 18 are connectedto each other through a belt 20 and the pulley 15 and the pulley 19 areconnected to each other through a belt 21, the belts 20 and 21 do notinterfere with each other.

With such a structure, a substrate is to be delivered by means of thesubstrate delivering robot as shown in FIGS. 6( a) and 6(b).

As shown in FIG. 6( a), first of all, the second fork 6 (or the firstfork 5) set to hold an unprocessed substrate Wb is turned and movedtoward the back side with the unprocessed substrate Wb held and iscaused to stand by in such a position as not to obstruct a work. In thisstate, a processed substrate Wa mounted on a processed substratemounting table 22 is held and taken out by means of the first fork 5 (orthe second fork 6).

As shown in FIG. 6( b), next, the first fork 5 holding the processedsubstrate Wa is turned and moved toward the back side in this state andis caused to stand by in such a position as not to obstruct the work,and the second fork 6 holding the unprocessed substrate Wb is turnedforward and moved rectilinearly to mount the unprocessed substrate Wb onan unprocessed substrate mounting table 23.

In this case, one arm is provided and both the first fork 5 and thesecond fork 6 are protruded to be short from the tip portion of thesecond arm 4 and are only turned around the tip portion of the secondarm 4. Also in a state in which the first arm 3 and the second arm 4 arecontracted during an operation, therefore, a range in which a motioninterferes with another fixed object is very small. Accordingly, theinstallation area of the substrate delivering robot 1 is reduced.

The invention is not restricted to the case in which the processedsubstrate Wa and the unprocessed substrate Wb are delivered by only theoperation of the arm of the substrate delivering robot 1 but thesubstrate delivering robot 1 may be attached to a rectilinear movingdevice which is not shown and the arm operation of the substratedelivering robot 1 and the rectilinear movement of the rectilinearmoving device may be combined to deliver the processed substrate Wa andthe unprocessed substrate Wb.

Moreover, the motor 16 for driving the first fork and the motor 17 fordriving the second fork may be provided in the fixed base 2. In the casein which the motors 16 and 17 are provided in the fixed base 2, twooutput shafts for fork driving are further provided concentrically inthe output shafts 7 and 8 to be the two concentric shafts of the motorsfor driving the first arm 3 and the second arm 4, for example.

Similarly, the invention can be applied to a substrate delivering robotwhich does not have an up-down mechanism in the fixed base and can alsobe applied to a substrate delivering robot comprising two arms, forexample. Furthermore, the number of the forks is not restricted to twobut may be four.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The invention can be applied to a substrate delivering robot to be usedin a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and can be utilized in such afield as to manufacture and provide a substrate delivering robot capableof decreasing a minimum turning radius in the contraction state of anarm and minimizing an installation area even if a plurality of forks areprovided.

1. A substrate delivering robot having a fixed base, a first arm coupledturnably to a substantial center part of the fixed base, a second armcoupled turnably to the first arm and a fork coupled turnably to thesecond arm, wherein the fork is constituted by a plurality of forksincluding a first fork and a second fork which are independent of eachother, and the first fork and the second fork are turnably attached to atip portion of the second arm concentrically in two upper and lowerstages independently of each other and a motor for driving the firstfork and a motor for driving the second fork are provided in the robotwherein the motor for driving the first fork and the motor for drivingthe second fork are provided in the first arm.